U.S. Customs and Border Protection released more details Friday after a 62-year-old Colombian man died last week after scaling the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
The Nov. 8 incident began at approximately 5:42 a.m. when federal agents identified a small group of suspected non-citizens scaling the border fence with a makeshift ladder west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
One person in the group returned to Mexico and three got away north of the secondary 30-foot-tall border fence, officials said. When a Border Patrol agent arrived at the scene, two men were on top of the northern barrier and began their descent.
One man, identified by the medical examiner’s office as Edgar Guillermo Hernández, fell while descending and landed on the north side of the secondary fence. The second man ran north after climbing down but was later apprehended, officials said.
The agent, initially separated from Hernández by the secondary fence, called for emergency medical services and reported that the injured man was conscious and breathing, officials said.
However, minutes before the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and paramedics arrived on the scene, he was reported to be “physically unresponsive.” He was pronounced dead at 6:25 a.m.
He died from blunt-force injuries, the medical examiner determined.
The case is being reviewed by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has also been notified.
